Razor-stropping device



' 1,614,492 Jan' 18 1927' M. H. RHoDl-:s A

RAZOR sTnoPPiNG DEVICE Filed Deo.' 9. 1925 Patented Jan. 18,2192?.

NrrEo sT'rEs- ATENI OFFICE.

MARCUS H. RHODES, or sr. LOUIS, MIs'soURLIAssIGNOR To RHODES MANUFAo'rn-BfA ING COMPANY, or ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

RAZOR-STROPPIG DEVICE.

Application inea 'December 9, 1925. seriai NO. 74,319.

This invention relates to stropping devices and with regard tol certain more specic features to an automatic stropper for razors andfthe like.

Among the several 'objects of the inven- 15 the provision of a` stropper of the class described. which is adapted to start the said series of predetermined pressure decrements at any one decrement in the series; one which is adaptedto repeat any decrementv or series of them at the will of the operator; and the provision of a device of the class described which is simple and rugged in construction, light in weight and economical of manufacture. Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists of the elements and combinations of elements, features of construction and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the structure hereinafter described andthe scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following'claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of various possible embodiments of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the device showing parts broken away, and shows a razor blade applied thereto in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a-side elevation of the stropper with no blade therein; f

ig. 3 is'an enlarged vertical section taken On line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and shows a feed screw in full;

Fig. 4' is a vertical section taken ,on line 4 4 of Figfl and shows'the device in a transitional position;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentaryenlarged detail section of a driving post; and

Fig. 6 is` an enlarged side blade clamp.

Similar reference .characters indicate corresponding parts throughout ythe several views of the drawings.

elevation of a `Referring now more particularly to Figs.

1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings, 55 there is illustrated at numeral 1 a preferably` stamped base plate provided with struck up ears 3 and 5. Passing through a hole in the center of the plate land rotatabl borne in said hole is a driving post 7 (Flgs. 1y and 5). The post 7 is integrally formed with a pinion 9 which rests horizontally on the base plate 1 and rotates thereon.

The post 7 passes down through said hole in plate 1, an is shouldered therebeneath to receive a resilient gasket 11, a spacing gasket 13, a preferably leather stropper disc 15 and a metal backing plate 17 for said stroppery disc. YAfter being supplied from below with the above assemblage of parts 11, 13, 15 and 17, in the order mentioned, the lower end 19 of the post 7 is flanged 'over the backing plate 17 to hold said assemblage to the rotative post. Hence the post 7 and stropper disc 15 are adapted to rotate as aA unit with respect to the plate 1. The strop' 'per 15 is provided on its' upper surface with a spirally arranged ridge 16 serving purposes to be made clear. 'lhe ridge is pressed into the leather. The plate 1 is circular and at a radius adapted to clear the stropper disc 15 is flanged downwardly as indicated at numeral 21., The flange 21 snugly engages a vertical flange 23 Vformed on a protecting bottom 25. The flanges 23 and 21 are guid- 85 ed to it together by means of a clip and eye combination 27 (see Fig. 2). Hence the stropper' is adapted to rotate in a substantially enclosed compartment C. The vertical flange 25 is lmurled or otherwise roughened in Order that the device as a whole may be gripped for purposes tobe described.

The pinion 9 engages and drives a gear 29 which is also rotatably held to the plate 1. The gear 29 has formed therewith a vertical barrel cam 31 and a struck up lug 33. The cam 31 comprises a downwardly notched portion 35 and a high portion 37. It should be noted that the lug 33 is near a transition point between theV high and low 190 portions 37 and 35 respectively, that is, as regards the circular measure around said' cam 31. One of the teeth 38, namely tooth 39 of the gear 29 is displaced'out of the plane of the other teeth on said gear. Tho gear ratio between the pinion 9 and gear 29 iml I is preferably of` about the order of one to vat three. The center of-the gear 29 is located about midway between the ears 3 and 5 and the gear itself revolves on a slightly raised ridge 41 formed in the plate 1. The ridge provides ample bearing surface but does not roduce excessive friction.

Rotatably borne between the plate 1, and a partial cover therefore (to bedescribed) is a pin 43. This pin 43 is located only a short distance from the periphery of the' gear 29 and carries fast thereto a driven pin- Y ion 45. The pinion 45, though a driven one, is not driven by the normally spaced teeth 38 of the gear 29. lt is4 offset out of the plane of the normally spaced gear teethV and into the plane 'of the said oifset tooth 39. 'lhe tooth'39 then engages a tooth of the pinion 45 once for every revolution of the gear 29. In the present embodiment ofthe invention the pinion 45 is Vprovided with fiveteeth. Hence, for everyl three turns' of the. driving pinion 9, the gear 29 turns one revolution, and the driven pinion 45 turns one-fifth of one revolution. The quantitative figures quoted could be varied without invalidating the principles of construction herein described. In order that the pinion 45 may-be resiliently held in a given turned position, a struck-up ear 46 of the base plate 1,` is made to cooperate with thevlowerface thereof. The ear 46 has some spring to it and therefore permits the pinion 45 to be turned whenforce is applied to said pinion by way of the tooth 39.

It should be noted that thel displaced tooth 39 will mesh with the teeth of the driving pinion 9 as well as will the lother teeth on gear 29,- beca-use the pinion 9vis of a thickness adapted to permit such action.

TheI purpose in turning the pin. 43' by means lof the l`vdriven pinion 45, as described, will neXt be made. clear.

Returningto the struck up ears 3 and 5, 1t will be seen that they have gudgeoned be- J .tween them a cross member 47, The'supporting'gudgeon 49 at the ear75 is supported in the .conventional manner and is adapted to permit of some vertical pivotal -play in the meniber 47.

The udgeon 51 at the ear 3 is not conventionally supported. A vertical slot or notch 53-guides said gudgeon35l vertically. Pivoted horiztmt'ally to one side of thev notch 53, by means of an ear 54, is an adjusting lever 55. This lever 55 is provided with a slot 57 which, as the lever 55 swings onits pivot 54,' is positioned across and swings `alongthe notch 53.v The s1ot'57'is adapted ,to have 'said 'gudgeon 51 pass therethrough,

so that asithe lever swings, the vertical position of the gudgeo 51 and hence the posi-- tion of the cross ember 47 is vertically altered.

The position of the lever 55 is altered by r and slowly and release means of tht movement of said pin43. The pin 43 iis provided with .a downwardly buttressed thread59 which cooperates with a -tongue 61 formed'on the lever 55. As the the thread 59 so turns, f

downward repositioning, the threads are 'buttressed downwardly so thatif the lever is simply depressed; thetongue 61 readily rides ,down over the thread (as -in a ratchet and pawl combination) and is at any instant ready to be fed upwardly. lt is evident that movement of theV lever 55 upwardly, 'verti- 'cally moves thecross member 47. The movement is pi/votal about udgeon 49. i

The member -47 has formed near the gud- I geon'49, downwardly `extending ears 63 and 64. These ears are laterally bored to .ro-

tatably receive 'a pin 65. The pin has formed` at the rear end thereof a pinion 67 which incidentally functions'as a shoulder adapted to ride -against the rearwardJ ear .63.

At its forward end (outside of the ear 64) the `pin 65 is provided with a .blade clamp K. The clamp is detailed in'Figure 6, and comprises a stationary jaw 69' fixed to the pin 65 by means of a bored, turned-up ear l slipped over the turned up ears 73 pinned pin by a smaller pin/or 75 also rotatably holds turned ears l77 of a movable jaw 7 9. The

tothe sides of the `key 75. The ley jaws are provided with cooperating clamp-116' ing lips 81 adapted to hold a razor blade B.

pin 65, and boredl wir the downwardly 1 -Inorder to tightly h'oldthe blade B between the lips 81, a oted to the surface of the clamp 79. l`he pivoted portion of the" leverl 83. passes through the clamp 'Z9- to full-line position, does not cooperate with thev pin 65 to an extent whereby the lips 81 l Fig. 1, dotted-line' and the forward portion is. strained downwardly to tightlyV clamp the blade B, that is,

if the blade is inserted as shown. At no f "times do-the lips '81 quite 'leave each other,

whereby "a blade may readily befpositioned clamping lever'83 is ivmil form acam 85' i which, when the lever 83 is in Aits Fig. 1

the-cam 85 rides up mageos between said lips without danger of its falling. The jaws 79 and 69 are always straine against each other somewhat but only lightly when the arm or lever 83 is in its Fig. 1, solid-line position.

The purpose of hold a blade against the strop disc 15 as said disc revolves. An opening 87 in the baseV plate v 1 permits the said .cooperation between blade and strop. In order to tilt the clamp K downwardly so that it may apply the blade to the strop 15, a nose or follower 89 is formed rearwardly from the cross member 47. The follower 89 is adapted to cooperate with the edge of the barrel cam 31. It is heldthereto by the action of a spring 91 reacting between an upstruck linger 93 in the plate 1, and a downwardly extending arm 95 of said cross member 47. As the follower 8 9 rides on the relatively long high portion 37 of the cam 31, the clamp K is held down as shown in Figs. 1 and-2. When it rides in the low portion 35, the clamp rises high enough to be rotated with the pin 65. The purpose of this is to turn the blade'over for sharpening on both sides of an edge. The cross member 47 is then also an oscillating member.

In order to turn the clamp through one hundred and eightly. degrees while itis raised, that is, while the follower- 89 is in the depression 35, a crown sector gear 97 is pivoted on a bridge 99. The gear 97is provided with an extending arm or follower 101 which is adapted-to cooperate with said lug 33 on gear 29. The lug 33 causes the crown gear 97 to move clockwise to the Fig. 1 position as thelug moves inta counterclockwise direction. It causes such action -against the tension of a small coil spring 103 reacting from the bridge 99 to the arm 101 and adapted to return the arm to a counterclockwise position with its gear 97. It cannot do so however, until the lug 33 passes out of contact with arm 101. Now, the lug 33 contacts with larm 101 to 'turn the gear 97 as described, only when the follower 89 of vthe cross -member 47 is in the depression 35 and hence when the pinion l67 is depressed, that is, when the clamp K is raised. The pinion 67 when so depressed meshes with the crown gear 97.

Events are so timed thatk the follower 89. reaches the bottom of its depression 35 just before the lug 33' engages the arm 101:. Thereby the clamp K raises with its blade while the pinion 67 descends to mesh with the crown'gear 97, that is,- before the gear 97 starts moving. Then, as the lug 33 moves the arm 101, the gear A97 is caused to turn the pinionv 67 through approximately one hundred and eighty ,degrees. Th1s action of course turnsover the clam'p K and blade therein. As the turning action is completed the follower 89 rides up out of the dethe blade clamp K is tol pression 35 to depress the clamp K and raise d -the pinion 67 out of mesh. After this action the lug 33 clearsthe arm 101 and the crown gear 97 springs back to its starting position. The blade is then stropped on its other side until the turning or reversing action again takes place after one turn of the gear 29, or three turns of the pinion 9. The lug 33 is designed to decelerate the gear 97 to a stop as the arm 101 leaves said. lug, and also to hold the gear 97 still untilthe follower 89 takes the gear 67 out of mesh.

F or each revolution of the gear 29, the pinion -is also advanced by means of the tooth 3 9, whereby the pressurev thread 59 is turned to feed up the lever and cross piece 47. This action lightens the pressure between the blade and stropper. It is to be understood that the cam 31 and follower 89 are designed to give a relatively high pressure on the blade when the lever 55 is down and relatively 'lighter pressures as the said lever rises to raise the cross member 47 with its attendant parts. The teeth of the pinion 67 and gear 97 are adapted to mesh, regardless of the adjustment given to the member 47 by lever 55 and are therefore always operable` as described.

The offset' tooth 39 is so positioned that the transition from one pressure to another at the blade is brought about ywhile the blade is in contactwith the sti-opper. The change in pressure is adapted to take place atl a period about mid-way betweenthetime of application of the blade to the stropper and the time of lifting the blade from the stropper. yBy this means each side ofthe vblade receives an equal amount of agiven pressure of stropping.

In order to give the device a neat appearance, the above recited cam and gear mechanism is enclosed beneath a cover V. This cover V is held to the base plate 1 by riveted tongues. The cover is provided with proper openings for passage and movement of the blade clamp K and the pressure lever 55.

The drivlng post 7 is adapted to be turned by means vof a foldable handle I-I4 pivoted thereto. stropper 15 may not be reversed against the cutting edge of the blade in clamp K, when the clamp is depressed, a non-reversing mechanism is formed 1n the post 7.

In order that the motion of the lio ' thereby variation of a continued series is to begin. u u

ratas). He may fully or"- partly -lever 55. Likewise he may start lustrative and not in a.

` ternate pressing row in Fg.' 2; position of the handle as far as rotation .a blade against asurface moving otherthan thereof is concerned. at right angles to the edge of the blade, and

The operation of the device is simple. All means for automatically varying the prestliat need be done is to slip a bladev to be sure between the blade and surface to, desharpeiied into the clamp K, move the clamp# crease at each alternate pressing event of a ing lever 8 8 counterfclockwise from its Fig. continued series of said events. l position, and turn the handle H in a clocky A razor stropper comprising 'arotatawise direction.` The described automatic ble sti'opper disc,I means for alternately operations then take place. If the handle pressing the-two sides of a blade edge thereto H is inadvertently turned counter-clockwise,"comprising an oscillating member and a no harm is done to thedevice or blade, beblade claiii'iretatably held tlierewith, a seccause of the operation of the non-reversing ond means adapted to oscillate the 'said feature. member and turn the clamp, said means come An operator may start the stropping opeiprising a driving mechanism, and automatic ation with any pressure on the blade he de.- nieans operable from said driving mechasires (within limits of' the design of appanisni adapted to raise" the oscillating meindepress the ber, whereby pressure is lessened between at a high the. blade and stropper disc, and nieans for pressure and after a time reset the lever' manually changing said pressure. u wardly for-a lighter pressure and there- 4. A' razor stropper comprising a rotatby s ip over some of the pressure range, able sti-opper disc, means for alternately saving time. He also may repeat pressing the two sides of aI blade edg'e there; 'any given rangevof pressure if he desires, to comprising an oscillating member and a merely by depressing the lever 55: blade clamp rotatably held therewith, a sec- The spiral ridge-16 on the stropper 15 ond means adapted to oscillate the saidmemfunctions as a surface, whichnot only moves bei' and turn the clamp, said second means circularly with respect to the blade, but comprisng a rotatable driving mechanism,

vsweeps outwardly along the length of the and automatic means operable. intermittently blade. By this means any tendency to cut from ksaid driving mechanism dapted grooves in the leather surface, due to grit raise the oscillating member, said automatic and the like, is defeated. The grit is swept means comprising an intermittently driven into the grooves between elements of the screw, a'pivoted lever cooperating therewith ridge. to be moved and meansfor mounting the os- 'lhe fact that'the blade edge is not held along a radial line on the strop causes a lever. i criss-cross-stroppin-g e ect to' be had on the 5.- An automatic pressure -ad ustment for two sides of an edge being sharpened. This a st ropper of the class describe 'comprisingis an effect to be 'desired in sharpening .ne a pivoted lever' upholding the pressure eleedges Y ments of the stropper, an intermittently op- In view-of the above, it isbel'ieved that tlie erable screw for moving the lever, said screw various "features, of this invention will be beingdriven from` the driving elements of clear'without further elaboration, and it will .the stropper. be seenthat with the' apparatus -he-reindescribed, the 'several' objects of the invention a stropper o f the class described'comprising are achieved and other advantageous results a pivoted lever upholding the pressure eleattained.' Y A `As many changes could be made in carry .able screwormoving the lever, said screw ing out the above construction without de-v -heilig driven from the driving elementsof parting from the scope of is intended that all matter contained in the a portion formed with the leven/to the above description ,or shown in tlie'accompanying drawings'shall be interpreted as il-vlimiting sense.

whereby pushed along the thread.

Iclaim:

1. A portable stropper n ieaiisA able stropper disc, .means for alternately.

cillating member so that itis moved by the 6. An automatic pressure adjustment for.-

the'inventiomit the stropper, means l`for resiliently .pressing thread, andafbuttres'scut im said thread' theflever may readily ,be manually 7.1A razorstropper comprising a rotat- `This maybe done at any -for lsuccessively pressing alternate sides of ySti ios-v ments of the strop, an intermittently operfor successively pressing alternate sides of a pressing the two sides of a blade edge there` .l

blade against a moving surface, automatically) varying the the blade and suriace event of a Ycontinued series Amember` and turn 4the clamp, of said events, and me ulating the 'pressueat which the automatic.

2. A. portable stropper comp means member, where means for to comprising an oscillating member andv a pressure between vblade clamp rotatably held therewith, a sec-- to decrease at each a'l-ond means adapted 'to oscillate, the saidA said second for manually *reg means comprsing a drivin mechanism and automat'icmeans operable rom said driving Yixiechaiiism adapted to raisefthefoscillating l y pressure islessenedibetween the blade and stropper disc, and

means for manually raising or lowering thev oscillating mechanism independently of the said automatic means.

8. A razor stropper comprising a rotatable stropper disc, means for alternately Y pressing the two sides of a blade edge thereto comprising an oscillating member and a blade clamp rotatably held therewith, a. second means adapted to oscillate the said member and turn the clamp, said second means comprising a rotatablevdriving mechanism, and automa-tic means operable intermittently from said driving mechanism .adapted to raise the oscillating member, said automatic means comprising an intermittently driven screw. a nivoted lever cooperating therewith to be moved, means for mounting the oscillating member so that it is moved by the lever and means for temporarily disconnecting the lever from the screw for lmanual operation.

9. A portable stropper comprising means for successively pressing alternate sides of a blade against a moving surface and means for automatically varying the pressure between the blade and surface to decrease at each alternate pressing event of a Con-l tinued series of such events.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my naine to this specilication this 7th day of December, 1925.

Masons n. Briones, 

